Fiction in May 2001....

-- Library Journal, 1/1/2001

ANASTAS, Benjamin.
The Faithful Narrative of a Pastor's Disappearance.
Farrar. May 2001. 288p.
ISBN 0-374-15214-4. $24.
With this second novel about a liberal white congregation whose young black pastor goes missing, Anastas hopes to prove that the success of The Underachiever's Diary was no fluke.

BELLE, Jennifer.
High Maintenance.
Riverhead: Putnam. May 2001. 400p.
ISBN 1-57322-185-6. $24.95.
Entertainment Weekly's Best New Novelist (for Going Down) dreams up a disgruntled yuppie heroine who becomes a real estate shark.

BRADLEY, Marion Zimmer with Diana L. Paxson.
Priestess of Avalon.
Viking. May 2001. 480p.
ISBN 0-670-91023-6. $24.95.
Pagan British empress, Christian son: fantasy author Paxson completes the late Bradley's last work.

BROWN, Dale.
Warrior Class.
Putnam. May 2001. 448p.
ISBN 0-399-14714-4. $25.95.
abridged. Putnam Berkley Audio.
ISBN 0-399-14768-3. $24.95.
A Russian oilman wants to build a pipeline that will assure his country's dominion over Europe, and to the surprise of an air force general involved in espionage, the U.S. president doesn't seem to care.

CANIN, Ethan.
Carry Me Across the Water.
Random. May 2001. 336p.
ISBN 0-679-45679-1. $24.95.
A German-born Jew escapes the Holocaust to find riches -- and a crisis of conscience -- in America. "A big leap forward for Canin," says the publisher.

CASE, John.
The Syndrome.
Ballantine. May 2001. 464p.
ISBN 0-345-43308-4. $25.95.
After The Genesis Code: a psychiatrist teams with the half-sister of a patient he lost to suicide to figure out why assassins are dodging their tracks.

CROMBIE, Deborah.
A Finer End.
Bantam. May 2001. 336p.
ISBN 0-553-10956-1. $23.95.
A tough case for Supt. Duncan Kincaid and Sgt. Gemma James: a long-dead monk seems to be sending messages about bloody events at his abbey that have contemporary consequences.

CRUSIE, Jennifer.
Fast Women.
St. Martin's. May 2001. 352p.
ISBN 0-312-25261-7. $24.95.
The head of a detective agency and his dithery new assistant share a passion for righting wrongs -- and for each other.

DEAVER, Jeffery.
The Blue Nowhere.
S. & S. May 2001. 432p.
ISBN 0-684-87127-0. $26.
lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-7432-1336-X. $26.
abridged. S. & S. Audio.
ISBN 0-7435-0640-5. $26.
abridged. S. & S. Audio.
ISBN 0-7435-1820-9. $32.
A hacker is freed from prison to pursue a serial killer.

ELLROY, James.
The Cold Six Thousand.
Knopf. May 2001. 688p.
ISBN 0-679-40392-2. $26.95.
unabridged. Random Audio.
ISBN 0-375-41915-2. $49.95.
A Las Vegas cop finds himself in Dallas in November 1963 -- with $6000 and an uncertain job assignment. With a 100,000-copy first printing and a 23-city author tour.

FOWLER, Karen Joy.
Sister Noon.
Marian Wood Bk: Putnam. May 2001. 288p.
ISBN 0-399-14750-0. $24.95.
In Gilded Age San Francisco, Lizzie Hayes rebels against her ritzy background. Fowler wrote Sarah Canary.

GAIMAN, Neil.
American Gods.
Morrow. May 2001. 432p.
ISBN 0-380-97365-0. $25.
unabridged. HarperAudio.
ISBN 0-694-52549-9. $44.95.
Fresh from jail, Jack is drafted as bodyguard by a mysterious stranger who seems to know all about him. A follow-up to the best-selling Neverwhere.

HARRIS, Joanne.
Five Quarters of the Orange.
Morrow. May 2001. 336p.
ISBN 0-06-019813-3. $25.
A Frenchwoman returns unrecognized to the town that chased out her family during the Occupation. The film version of Harris's recent best seller, Chocolat, was released in December.

KLOSTERMAN, Chuck.
Fargo Rock City.
Scribner. May 2001. 288p.
ISBN 0-7432-0227-9. $23.
A teenaged heavy metal fan has trouble being cool in 1980s North Dakota. A much-touted debut.

L'AMOUR, Louis.
May There Be a Road.
Bantam. May 2001. 288p.
ISBN 0-553-80213-5. $16.95.
lrg. prnt. Random.
ISBN 0-375-43107-1. $16.95.
abridged. BDD Audio.
ISBN 0-553-50289-1. $25.95.
abridged. BDD Audio.
ISBN 0-553-71433-3. $29.95.
Stories never before found between the covers of a book.

LE GUIN, Ursula K.
Tales from Earthsea.
Harcourt. May 2001. 320p.
ISBN 0-15-100561-3. $24.
New stories that continue exploring Le Guin's "Earthsea" realm.

LINDSEY, Johanna.
Heart of a Warrior.
Morrow. May 2001. 384p.
ISBN 0-380-97854-7. $24.
lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-06-620959-5. $24.
Proud woman, proud warrior: more romance from Lindsey.

McGREGOR, Elizabeth.
The Ice Child.
Dutton. May 2001. 384p.
ISBN 0-525-94767-9. $24.95.
An archaeologist disappears into the Arctic waste to hunt for remains of Sir John Franklin's doomed 19th-century expedition, followed by his beloved, who needs his help to save her sick child.

MAPSON, Jo-Ann.
Bad Girl Creek.
S. & S. May 2001. 256p.
ISBN 0-7432-0256-2. $24.
Wheelchair-bound Phoebe takes in boarders when her aunt leaves her a flower farm, and the four women jump-start their lives. With a 13-city tour.

MAWER, Simon.
The Gospel of Judas.
Little, Brown. May 2001. 336p.
ISBN 0-316-09750-0. $24.95.
From the author of Mendel's Dwarf: a literary thriller that gets its charge from a gospel supposedly written by Judas.

MENENDEZ, Ana.
In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd.
Grove. May 2001. 192p.
ISBN 0-8021-1688-4. $23.
This collection from Menendez, a Pushcart Prize winner, has been sold in eight other countries. With a 30,000-copy first printing and a ten-city author tour.

PALAHNIUK, Chuck.
Choke.
Doubleday. May 2001. 256p.
ISBN 0-385-50156-0. $24.95.
A medical school dropout devises a get-rich-quick scam (which involves fake choking) while dealing with sex addiction and a nutty mother.

RABB, Jonathan.
The Book of Q.
Crown. May 2001. 384p.
ISBN 0-609-60483-X. $23.95.
Bad news for Father Pearse: the Manicheans are about to resurface. A follow-up to The Overseer.

RUSSO, Richard.
Empire Falls.
Knopf. May 2001. 512p.
ISBN 0-679-43247-7. $25.95.
Miles watches his dreams fade in Empire Falls, ME. With a ten-city author tour and a 100,000-copy first printing.

SANDFORD, John.
Chosen Prey.
Putnam. May 2001. 416p.
ISBN 0-399-14728-4. $26.95.
abridged. Putnam Berkley Audio.
ISBN 0-399-14758-6. $24.95.
unabridged. Putnam Berkley Audio.
ISBN 0-399-14766-7. $39.95.
abridged. Putnam Berkley Audio.
ISBN 0-399-14767-5. $29.95.
An art historian's kinky sexual obsession turns to serial murder.

SEIFFERT, Rachel.
The Dark Room.
Pantheon. May 2001. 320p.
ISBN 0-375-42104-1. $24.
German history lessons from three troubled young people. There's a big push behind this debut.

SMITH, Wilbur.
Warlock.
Thomas Dunne Bks: St. Martin's. May 2001. 560p.
ISBN 0-312-27823-3. $27.95.
Following River God: a hermit turned warlock saves an Egyptian dynasty.

SUTHERLAND, Grant.
Diplomatic Immunity.
Bantam. May 2001. 384p.
ISBN 0-553-80186-4. $23.95.
abridged. BDD Audio.
ISBN 0-553-52811-4. $25.95.
abridged. BDD Audio.
ISBN 0-553-71435-X. $29.95.
Murder at the United Nations, and one vulnerable suspect can't claim diplomatic immunity.

TENNANT, Emma.
Sylvia and Ted.
Holt. May 2001. 192p.
ISBN 0-8050-6675-6. $22.
A fictional take on Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Tennant examined her own relationship with Hughes in Burnt Diaries.

TYLER, Anne.
Back When We Were Grownups.
Knopf. May 2001. 256p.
ISBN 0-375-41253-0. $25.
lrg. prnt. ISBN 0-375-43118-7. $25.
unabridged. Random Audio.
ISBN 0-375-41883-0. $29.95.
unabridged. Random Audio.
ISBN 0-375-41884-9. $34.95.
A woman considers what she lost over 30 years of marriage and stepmothering.

WANG, Annie.
Lili: A Novel of Tiananmen.
Pantheon. May 2001. 336p.
ISBN 0-375-42085-1. $24.
From the Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square with a disillusioned heroine who could be the Chinese-born Wang, now a reporter for the Washington Post.

WHITEHEAD, Colson.
John Henry Days.
Doubleday. May 2001. 448p.
ISBN 0-385-49819-5. $24.95.
Fresh from his success with The Intuitionist, Whitehead parallels the ordeals of the legendary John Henry and a contemporary black journalist.

WOODRELL, Daniel.
The Death of Sweet Mister.
Marian Wood Bk: Putnam. May 2001. 224p.
ISBN 0-399-14751-9. $23.95.
Woodrell wraps up his Ozark trilogy with the family travails of a plump and unhappy teenaged boy.